Monday, 30 June 2008

After a busy weekend I have just about finished the Norse team. This is two of the five linemen. I have also painted a thrower, a runner, two berserkers and two ulfenwerer. They are Eriks United, named after the team sponsor, Erik Eriksson.

I will be taking and posting better pictures later in the week, after I have finished off another paint job. Before then, I might paint the shoulder pads in a blue and cream check pattern, the team colours of Eriks United.

Wednesday, 25 June 2008

Slow but steady progress on the Norse team. I have painted most of the base colours and applied washes. The shot shows the result is not spectacular but not too shoddy either. Certainly this could be based and used in a game and is a good standard for a speed painted figure. I will probably apply a simple highlight to the face and knuckles to draw attention to these main areas. I might also add a check design to the shoulder pad and maybe some colour to the helmet. Whatever I finally do will be documented in a step-by-step painting recipe.

Tuesday, 24 June 2008

Tyranids! It was no contest really. I looked at the battleforce for both Necrons and Tyranids and found that the latter contained far more variety, but best of all, the impressive carnifex model. I cannot wait to get my brushes on that.

Speaking of painting, I have started to research possible colour schemes. My first instinct is to go with the Alien vibe and attempt a grey/silver/chrome look. This would be fairly easy to do, though it could look a little dull on the battlefield - they might end up looking like unpainted grey plastic! So to inject a little colour there would be some glazing of the skin (probably a chestnut/red/pink) and the carapace (green/purple/brown). Another nice touch would be to colour code any bio upgrades, such as a sickly green for venom bits. Having not read the codex yet this is just a vague idea.

I am also starting to mull over ideas for themed terrain. Egg pods are an obvious idea which should be easy enough. More ambitious would be terrain that has been appropriated by the tyranids - the crashed ship from the Macragge set might be a suitable starting point for this, but I have no idea how to make it look as though it has been "infested" by the Tyranids.

Monday, 23 June 2008

Been thinking more about 40K. Now that I have decided to take the plunge with a starter force, it's time to pick an army. First things first, narrow down the options by discarding those armies I would never collect, for whatever reason. These are Eldar (I just don't like the concept or the models), Chaos Marines (decent enough background but the models are a bit too much Marines with spikes for me), Daemons (too much like a fantasy army) and for a similar reason, Orks (I have a fantasy greenskin army).

Of the remainder, my first choice would probably be Marines or Imperial Guard, all those tanks take me back to my childhood days of Airfix models and I just like the concept of armoured divisions. But, as one of the gaming group have already picked Marines and the Imperial Guard are due an update next year, those two will have to go on the back burner for now. Another of my gaming group has declared an allegiance to Tau, so I guess it falls on me to be the bad guy. It's a toss-up between Necrons and Tyranids.

Sunday, 22 June 2008

Most of the time, I play fantasy battle. What do I mean most of the time? I have played two trial games of Blood Bowl, half a trial game of Lord of the Rings, and the rest of my 15+ years of gaming has been fantasy battle! But suddenly, the lure of starting 40K is strong. I'm not sure why there is a sudden urge to start this game, with four or five partially complete fantasy armies and a Blood Bowl team to complete, it would seem silly to take on yet another army or two. But I guess that's part of the joy of the hobby - continually coming up with new ideas for an army, new themes, new colour schemes and the prospect of some new terrain.

So, how best to get started? With a new rulebook just around the corner, it would seem idiotic to be looking at the existing starter set, the Battle for Macragge. I must be an idiot then, because I bought a copy of it just last week. There's a couple of marines missing and a few other bits and bobs, but it's mostly still on sprue and in perfect condition. And I got it for just over £13 on ebay. A squad of marines, two squads of tyranids, plus some lovely scenery, all for a baker's dozen!

My original plan was to design and paint my own marine chapter, with an eye on buying the new starter set in the autumn as a painting project, with no real intent to game. I happened to mention this to my regular gaming buddy, we had a brief chat about the armies (with our limited knowledge gleaned from White Dwarf mainly) and which armies we liked and disliked, then got on with our usual game of fantasy battle. The next week I turn up, he whips out a Tau codex and explains that he has a battleforce ordered. And his son has grand plans for a Space Marine army. Game on!

Funny how these things get started. This could well be the start of a another 15 year phase.

Thursday, 19 June 2008

After a couple of trial runs at the game, I have decided to cobble together a Norse Blood Bowl team from a few spare chaos marauder sprues. My aim is to get a team painted at maximum speed, minimum cost. So far, the team is assembled and undercoated and I have started to paint on the basic colours. As soon as it gets a bit more interesting I will post a work in progress pic.